Man does a runner, leaving his date to pay for their restaurant bill

2 years ago

Woman in tears as first date goes incredibly wrong

First dates can be downright awkward, but this woman's story takes it to a whole new level.

The Sydney-sider travelled an hour on public transport to meet her date at Bondi restaurant Milky Lane on Sunday June 3, only to have the guy walk out half way through their meal, leaving her to pick up the hefty tab.

"If you think your Sunday’s bad, a couple just came into ML Bondi on a first date, ate and drunk [sic] heaps, he said he was going outside to get some cash out then did the runner, leaving her with the whole bill," restaurant owner Christian Avant posted to Facebook that day.

The awkwardness of the date was immediately evident to restaurant staff, who initially made conversation with the couple "to break the ice", Avant recalled to The Edge.

"It wasn't going overly well," he added.

The man then made the excuse of leaving the restaurant to find an ATM, but when he hadn't returned 20 minutes later, it was pretty obvious that he wasn't coming back.

Avant said that that the young woman was close to tears when she tried to call her date and found that he'd blocked her number.

(Getty)

"At this point, one of my staff went over to console her, and took a couple of shots of tequila over and had a chat," he said.

"She was pretty distraught about it, so we decided that we weren't going to charge her for the bill," he said, adding that as an extra consolation, he gifted her a $150 voucher to "bring a real man back".

"She was so upset, the poor thing, that was the least we could do to try and save her in this situation."

While the restaurant owner noted that there was "no vibe, no energy or connection" between the two, he lamented the man's complete lack of human decency in dealing with the bad date.

"It's just polite to pay your way, then go your separate ways and say thanks for the date," he said.

Referring to the disappearing Don Juan as "a piece of s---", Avant said he was tempted to post a photo of the man's head from the CCTV cameras, but decided against it.

"I feel that the hatred that was thrown towards this guy online, if I name and shame him, then he's going to get attacked and bullied, and then I'm no better than him doing the runner," he told the radio hosts.

There was a silver-lining to the bad day, as well as being comped for the meal and drinks, the woman made a new friend in the restaurant's host, Mel, who "took her out in Bondi for drinks afterwards," reported Avant.